Friday, May 30, 2008

Caught the SAM Scupture Park with Jen's parents when they were in town. New artist in the cafe. His work was exciting to me in general, but two pieces really stuck out to me, both around a girl and her dress. The one where she vanishes is particularly arresting.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Jennifer Lynn Grabarczyk and I had the chance to see Mr. Williams at the Showbox a couple weeks back. The show was entitled "Working on material," and it was the first of 3 shows, but I was still surprised by ungreat his material was. Mostly just such obvious stuff. What if you cross a shitzu with a bulldog? People talking on hands-free cell phones look like they're talking to themselves. Dick Chaney consulting with the devil.

But his presence more than made up for it. A strange, deep kindness that feels almost childlike. His humor felt most gripping when it wandered into personal territory. His time in rehab and alcoholism in general. A side comment about his therapist asking him why he does comedy at all. Sadness that his movies haven't done well lately. And despite his less-than-great material, when he got into his rhythm, his charisma sucked you in.

I was also taken far outside my comfort zone by a lot of his explicitly sexual material. As I said the other day, Jen and I kept glancing at each other to make sure the other person was laughing. I guess as I look back, some of it crosses this line into this space that feels degrading. Not that comedians aren't allowed to go there. Just this weight of sadness. Like Robin Williams was trying to cover up some glory, in him or us. Shaming some part of himself. Some part of us. I want comedians as prophets, and I want prophets to speak to our sexuality, in ways that are disruptive. But I need hopeful and kind as well.

His overall humility and gentleness were fun. He tried to be harsh with audience members. It's comedy culture. But it felt half-hearted and timid compared to so many of his peers.Dave Hunt commented the other day that Robin Williams is known as shy off stage. I certainly wouldn't know, but it fits what I felt of him that night. It felt like an honor to step into his world for a little while.

"She's tiptoeing into the very beginning of some sort of relationship with God, or with a higher power, or something, but it is very hard for her to believe...I recommended that she think of all of the women who have most adored her in her life and to come up with a sense of God based on that kind of love, on the same protectedness that it gives you to be loved by a really fine woman, a sense of some mysterious regenerative force at the center of things that is maybe just love... by this morning, she'd found a picture of a big cat licking a little cat... So at the hospital this morning, as she sat in the doctor's office getting the chemo IV, and then as she sat around at home all day waiting to become Linda Blair, she said she'd picture this big cat licking her gently and carrying her in its mouth to safer places."

Monday, May 12, 2008

"It's that radio station KFKD... which plays in stereo in my head; out of the right speaker, the endless self-aggrandizement, all the commentary regarding my specialness, uniqueness, all the imaginary TV talk-show interviews with Johnny and Joan and Dick Cavett, and then out of the left speaker... every late-breaking bad bulletin on what a mess I'm making or am about to make of things, the fear of being uncovered, of impending doom."

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

"The universe is a communion of subjects,not a collection of objects."-Thomas Berry

So I went to a "Greening the Church" conference last Friday. Missed the middle, and it was so-so. But I read an interview with one of the speakers, Fritz Hull, that, when combined with some comments and stories from the conference has changed how I see the intersection of environmental care, my religion/spiritual life, and physics. This new (to me) story of the universe evolving over billions of years with humans on earth as a wild and beautiful expression of consciousness, intertwined as first among equals among millions of other species, alone able to be conscious of the story. With a spirit intertwined with all of creation, our relationship with the earth and the stars and other creatures as a deep window into how we are doing internally, spiritually. Environmentalism as essential to being fully human, to worship and humility, rather than a byproduct of being a particularly "good" human.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

So I've been reading (listening to) Pillars of the Earth, semi-trendy gillion-page historical fiction book that centers around the building of a Cathedral in the 12 century. It has revived my interest in sacred spaces, sacred architecture, etc. In that vein, I've stumbled across a website that's pretty fun, CathedralsOfCalifornia.com. It's worth a visit.

About Me

My wife and I just adopted our daughter, Katelynn Joy. I'm part of a team of 3 people planting ZERA, a different kind of church community in Seattle, WA. I also am Director of Communication at Mercer Island Presbyterian Church